Super Bowl Sunday

The KC Chiefs are the champions of football. Who are the advertising champs?

by AdvertisingBrandingMarketing

 

Super Bowl Sunday

Can you imagine the pressure the players and coaches were under knowing more than 113 million people were watching their every move for three hours during the Super Bowl? Now imagine the pressure the advertisers and their ad agencies felt knowing they had only thirty seconds to score their marketing touchdown. 

The advertisers spent $7 million for the airtime alone, plus another million or more on production. If their commercial didn’t score well with viewers, it’s the equivalent of fumbling at the goal line. A player may have had a horrible game, and even if he was on the losing team, he still received more than $80,000. A commercial that flopped is millions of dollars spent with little or no return, and could, in some cases, damage the brand beyond repair.

Yeah, the Super Bowl certainly comes with a lot of pressure. But there’s also a lot of reward. Winning players and coaches get lucrative new contracts and marketing opportunities. Successful advertisers increase their brand awareness, market share – and most importantly, their bottom lines. Their agencies become famous (or more famous), get new business, and the creative teams are rewarded with bonuses and the potential for Gold Lions at Cannes. Winning is good!

So, now that the game and all the advertising and pressure is over, we know the Kansas City Chiefs are the Super Bowl champions. Who are the champions of advertising? Unlike the Super Bowl, there can be more than one winner. This year there were a lot more losers than winners, and way too many spots relied more on celebrities than solid creative. Still, there were some spots that ranged from brilliant to damn good.

Here’s a list of my top five commercials (in no particular order) from this year’s extravaganza.  

REESE’S – It was hard to find a commercial that didn’t feature a celebrity, but Reese’s didn’t need a star to introduce its caramel big cup. Slapstick as hell, with people losing their minds because Reese’s announced a big change to their peanut butter cups. Turns out, the announcement was to introduce their new caramel cup product, and at the same time, let us all relax, knowing our favorite peanut butter cups were still around. Great new product introduction.

BMW – Speaking about celebrities… Just about everyone does a Christopher Walken impersonation, and in this spot featuring Christopher Walken for BMW’s electric model, everyone Mr. Walken meets impersonates him. Every actor is hysterical, Walken is, well, Walken, and the spot succeeds to promote the EV model and solidify the brand. “There’s only one Walken. And there’s only one BMW.”

POPPI – No special effects. No fancy camera angles. No celebrities. This one minute spot takes us on a tour through humanity’s ideas and accomplishments and attempts to convince us that the next great idea – Poppi Soda – is the future of soda. It informs us that Poppi Soda isn’t bad for us, because it contains none of the “bad stuff.” Will Poppi become the next Pepsi? No one knows. But this commercial was straightforward in introducing the product and its benefits, and explained why we should try it. And that’s what advertising is supposed to do, kids. 

PLUTO TV – OK, so maybe the “couch potatoes” were a bit much, but this spot did its job. It informed the viewer Pluto TV offered thousands of tv shows – and it’s free. I didn’t know that. I wonder how many others thought Pluto TV was just one more streaming service we’d have to pay for? I’ll bet their website is getting a lot of hits this morning. Very informative. Very well done.

ETSY GIFT MODE – Hey, if America can use Etsy’s new Gift Mode to send France a gift in return for the Statue of Liberty, think about the ways it can help us. Creative and well-produced, this commercial used a humorous, make-believe look back at history to present its new gift sending service. The concept, cinematography, and direction were perfectly executed. The casting was excellent. Most importantly, any commercial that begins with, “Oh, crap,” has my attention.  

THE RAMS WON THE SUPER BOWL. WHO WON THE ADVERTISING BOWL?

by AdvertisingMarketing

Well, another Super Bowl has come and gone, and while I might offer my opinion on the game itself, I’m more qualified to comment on the commercials that support the broadcast.

 

Some quick background: I’ve been in advertising for fifty-two years, a creative director for the last forty, and I worship at the feet of Bill Bernbach. For those who don’t know who Bernbach is, Google him. If you’re in the advertising business and don’t know him, you really should discover everything about him. And fast.

 

Now before you assume that I’m some old creative dinosaur stuck in the brilliance of the groundbreaking advertising of the 1960s and 70s, know this: I am. Well, sort of. You see, I have managed to stay current and enjoy most of the technological, sociological, and cultural changes that have happened in my lifetime. But I still believe advertising – aside from being creative – should inform us about what the advertiser is selling and interest us enough to want to know more. In my opinion, too much recent advertising – while being creative and brilliantly produced – left me wondering who the advertiser was or what they were selling. If your target doesn’t know who you are and what you do, all that creativity has gone to waste. Not to mention the client’s money.

 

Most Super Bowl advertising is produced to raise awareness, make a statement, and create a buzz for the advertiser’s brand. Advertisers invest millions ($6.5 million for a thirty-second spot this year, plus millions more for production) on this once-a-year opportunity to reach zillions of consumers, so their commercial better be memorable and informative. That means consumers better understand what the advertiser’s commercial taught them about its brand, more than they remember how much jewelry Snoop Dogg wore during the halftime show.

 

So, here’s my top five of this year’s thirty and sixty-second multi-million-dollar productions that kept us glued to the tv in between passes, interceptions, and punts:

 

FTX – Larry David is perfectly cast as the naysayer, who throughout history is wrong about everything new – from the wheel to the lightbulb and now, FTX. Will Larry be wrong about this product that claims to be the safe, secure way to get into crypto? Only time will tell, but the odds favor FTX.

 

CHEVY SILVERADO – A brilliant recreation of the Sopranos opening, featuring Meadow – not Tony – in the driver’s seat of a new Chevy Silverado. With all the Sopranos content floating around the social media universe, this spot will resonate with the new generation of Sopranos fans…and truck purchasers.

 

E-TRADE – The talking baby returns! The original campaign was a Super Bowl favorite, and e-trade brings the baby back to remind investors they can get better advice from them than “… getting investment advice from memes.”

 

UBER EATS – Excellent execution of strategy: To inform us that Uber Eats delivers more than food. Great use of celebrities not understanding why they can’t eat the aluminum foil, diapers, and other non-edible items delivered by Uber Eats.

 

SQUARESPACE – Great concept. Great copy. Actually, very sweet while being very informative. This well-produced spot featuring Zendaya should score well with today’s new generation of marketers.

 

The rest of the commercials ranged from very good, to so-so, to awful, but I chose to compliment the great ones rather than criticize the not-so-great ones. I realize there will be those who will disagree with my choices, but advertising is so subjective, and I may be more analytical than the average commercial viewer, and that’s ok. Hopefully, my colleagues will produce even better work for future Super Bowls, so, as they say in sports, “I can’t wait until next year!”